A legendary Second World War spy school will be officially recognized as a piece of Canadian history, Parks Canada said Saturday.

British-run Special Training School 103 - also known as "Camp X" - which operated in Whitby, Ont., was open for only two years during the Second World War, but the Brits trained over 500 special agents there who undertook missions across the world.

The British trained agents in the dark arts of silent killing, sabotage, espionage, weapons use, and gave recruits other skills used for clandestine activities for the Allied forces.

The majority of the recruits trained at Camp X were Canadians or Americans and they were not protected under the Geneva Convention. Many captured agents were tortured and executed by enemy forces.

The site of Camp X also included an operation called "Hydra," which collected and transmitted top-secret communications for London.

Camp X opened in Dec. 1941. The site of the former secret communications centre is now called Intrepid Park.